Thus far U-552. So far anyway.

Not an easy question.

RDP

SSN-21 USS Seawolf

There's mroe than one sub that comes to mind. If I had to choose just one I would probably choose U-20 (WWI) because of it's involvment with Lusitania. The captain of U-20 went on to sink 190,000 tons of shipping in WWI. Two months after receiving the highest award he was KIA.

HUmmm mabey the Japanese No. 71 only one built in 1937 and scrapped in 1940. to bad:down: but as a fairly small boat a bit bigger than a type II it fits my fancy:arrgh!: and 23 Kts underwater in 1937! beat that!

The Argentine sub ARA San Luis is one of my favourates. Proof that even if you don't sink anything, you can still make the enemy worry.

The fact they survived is a good enough reward.

My second favourate is the E-9, Max Horton's sub. A man who could fight in subs as well as go after them with equal success.

The Sub that takes them all in my opion is U.S.S. Tang ( I have to exclude the Wahoo as I have read little about her, please don't hate me!) To be as successful as her, and to sink as much tonnage and show others how it was done.:up:

U-47. What Prien did still boggles the mind sixty-some years later.

Prien wasn't a wart on O'Kane's rear end! Well, that is a bit overstated... (j/k) :cool:

To me, the Tang is fascinating, and O'Kane's writing was is so great and his patrols were so impressive, even given his tendency to overestimate some tonnage numbers.

I love Morton too, but to me, O'Kane is the greatest. Ed Beach is wonderful, and have enjoyed all the books on the Germans, espically Topp, but I am not as impressed with Prien as I am with O'Kane.

If Prien had survived and written a lovely bio., that might be a bit different, but I don't know that given Prien's Nazi attachments, that he would have been able to rehabilite himself like Galland or Topp.

I love this guy! He's the Aob king!

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/i...000/h97859.jpg

Jeez..the driest man ever to stand watch on an SS!

U-9 from WW1

as it did one of the most amazing things

Uboat.net:


On 16 July, 1914 this boat performed for the first time in history the difficult job of reloading torpedoes while submerged. This exercise would pay off only a few months later for the boat. On 22 September, 1914 U 9 (Ltn. Otto Weddigen) sank no fewer than 3 British cruisers in less than an hour: the HMS Aboukir, Hogue and Cressy, with the loss of almost 1400 men. This attack showed for the first time the capabilities of submarines in war. Otto Weddigen would perish with his U 29 later in the war.

pic:

she is a looker too :rock:

http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/856/ubootu9ev8.jpg

My three boats were the best ... of course.

USS Salmon SS-573 we won seven battle efficency E's in a row Admiral Nitmiz presented us with the fifth gold E in person at Mare Island naval shipyard. He grabbed my wife's hand, at the reception afterwards, and with both of his hands on my young 17 year old bride he says, "Well bring on the rest of the pretty girls"

He must have been in his early 80's and I think he lived somwhere nearby in San Francisco ... the date was August 1964. Plus we pulled a North Pac that will never be forgotten montoring Russian missile test with some spooks (CT's) on board.

USS Ethan Allen SSBN 608 blue crew first ship of her class, first FBM designed from the ground up to be a FBM (the other's before her were SSN's cut in half and missile decks added on) We fired seven A-2's in a row back in 1968, off the Canary Islands in the direction of Rossvelt Roads, P.R. We fired them one minute apart and all 7 hit within 50 yards of the down range (2,500 miles) targets. We were the first boat to ever do that.

The captain surfaced after the test, plus we had just pulled a 80 day patrol in the Med and we had an old fashioned picnic. We were flying a big 7/up flag too when an English ASW patrol plane caught us topside. We just waved and laughed at him as he circled us.

USS Sam Houston SSBN 609 blue crew for firing the first live warhead A-1 Polaris misslie wiping out Christmas Island in 1961, but I got on board 9 years later. Still one of the best crew's I served with for keeping it's sanity at sea. We had a ships newspaper and yours truly was the ships radio disc jockey for the latest news, sports and who cared about the weather at 200' and 4 kts. :lol:

I know ya'll believe me, right? I never doubted that, but just in case here's some picture proof.

http://www.theworldwideweather.com/archiv5.gif

USS Salmon SS-573 just fresh out of overhaul April 1965
Those three shark thingy's are PUFF's sonar for tri-angling a range.

350' long world's largest diesel boat (in service) and don't give me that
crap about the IJN's sea plane boat's, either.

http://www.theworldwideweather.com/archiv4.jpg

This is the USS Ethan Allen SSBN 608's blue crew on the mission
I described above. That's the picnic and the crew going home. We flew
back and forth from Groton, Conn to Rota, Spain to change crew's.

This was from the patrol book the ships personalman put together
for us ... That's me in the lower right hand side under the huge 7/Up flag.

http://www.theworldwideweather.com/archiv2.jpg

Want to see a real sonar gang in a real sonar room no less.
Here's seven of us ... That's Chief Ski in the middle I'm on his
left side (the white guy). Chief Ski died back in 76, but the rest
of us are still kicking. That was the sonar gear behind us, three
units, BQS-4, BQR-2B, BQR 7 and the BQQ-3 was in front of us.
By the way that black guy was so cool he use to press his dungree's.

i was just about to give you that crap of the IJN subs :lol: (which are 400 feet)

Prien does have a bio out covering school days 'till after Scapa Flow well worth a read very inspirational, rather short but the nothing curtails an autobiography like being killed. He does touch on Nazi party membership, but the way he describes between the wars Germany I don't think many would blame him.

(Tempus Publishing, Fortunes of war series, U-Boat Commander, Author Gunther Prien)

My favourite Sub Le Surcouf just for being Mega and strange and having a rather chequered career.

Mike

I change my "vote"

1st choice: Kilo SSK
2nd choice: SSN-21 USS Seawolf

Man, this didn't even get so much as a chuckle!

Tell the battle surface story Gee! The one with the Marines on the boat, that one was funny as all git-out!